Magic's Jameer Nelson returns to the court after missing 2 games

The Orlando Magic returned to full-strength Wednesday night when point guard Jameer Nelson started against the Detroit Pistons after a two-game absence because of a sore left knee.

"It feels better," Nelson said.

"It was just one of those things that was bothering me for about a week and a half or two weeks, and I just kept playing on it. I kind of tweaked it in the Toronto game [on Jan. 29] and then just kept playing on it. ... Then, in the Milwaukee game [on Jan. 31], I tweaked it again. It was one of those things I didn't want to keep messing with."

With Nelson back and with the Magic facing the Pistons' tall frontcourt of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and AndreDrummond, Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn employed a starting five of Nelson, Arron Afflalo, Tobias Harris, Glen Davis and Nik Vucevic.

On the offensive end, Nelson showed no ill-effects from his sore knee on Wednesday. He dished out 11 assists and committed just one turnover.

"I felt good," Nelsons said. "I wanted to get out there with the guys and fight with them and just do my job. My job was to get in the paint, find guys and run the offense."

Davis' numbersDavis averaged just 4.2 rebounds per game in Orlando's five games leading up to Wednesday.

Davis didn't exceed five rebounds in any of those five prior games, but he said he's not concerned about his rebounding totals.

"I'm just playing," Davis said. "It's not a numbers game anymore. It can't be a numbers game on this team anymore: who gets the most rebounds or who makes the most points. It's about who's going to do the necessary plays to win, and that's all I'm trying to do.

"I know I'm going to play my hardest," Davis added later. "If that makes me give up rebounds for other guys [that's OK]. There's a lot of times on the floor when you can get up in a tussle with your own teammate. Why? Give yourself up for the team."

Davis entered Wednesday averaging 6.7 rebounds per game — the second-highest rebounding average of his pro career. He had collected 12.0 percent of all available rebounds on the floor; last season he collected 13.1 percent of all available rebounds.

Watching the "draft"The most important draft in rookie Victor Oladipo's life, of course, was the 2013 NBA Draft when the Magic selected him second overall.

But on Thursday night, he'll be involved in another draft when Turner Sports NBA analysts Grant Hill and Chris Webber select players onto teams for the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star weekend.

Oladipo is one of 18 first- and second-year players who have been selected for the exhibition.

The Rising Stars Challenge draft will be held on TNT's pregame show. Oladipo didn't know about the draft's day and time until it was mentioned to him on Wednesday morning.

"I didn't even know that it was going on, but it'll be interesting to see who I'm going to be playing with and playing against," Oladipo said. "It should be fun."

Players from the exhibition's winning team will receive $25,000 apiece. Players from the losing team will receive $10,000 apiece.

Paint pointsThe Magic outscored the Pistons in the paint 58-52. In their loss to the Pistons on Jan. 28, the Magic were outscored 44-22

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.